Jan Żylicz

Associate Professor of Early Development and Epigenetic Regulation

Research Profile

Jan Żylicz has a background in molecular, stem cell and developmental biology. His undergraduate training consisted of Biochemistry studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland) and at the Utrecht University (The Netherlands). Afterwards, he joined a Wellcome Trust PhD programme in Stem Cell Biology at the University of Cambridge (UK). Under the supervision of Prof. Azim Surani he became fascinated by early mouse development and germline specification. During PhD studies he explored the importance of histone methyltransferases in pre- and post-implantation development. He discovered that specific histone H3 lysine 9 di-methylation helps in rapidly turning enhancers off during implantation. This histone mark can thus be a feedback mechanism to reinforce triggers for transcriptional repression.

His post-doctoral training focused on the dynamic processes mediating facultative heterochromatin formation. Thanks to a prestigious Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship he was able to study chromatin regulatory pathways promoting gene inactivation during X chromosome inactivation. His work in the team of Edith Heard at Institut Curie (Paris, France) revealed an epigenetic roadmap for inactivating one of the two X chromosomes in female cells. Specifically, he uncovered an important role of histone deacetylation by HDAC3 in reinforcing gene silencing. His post-doctoral work strengthened the understanding of how chromatin regulatory pathways shape transcriptional states in stem cells and developing mouse embryos.

The Żylicz laboratory at DanStem is now focused on understanding how metabolic and epigenetic mechanisms cooperate to regulate transcription during early development.